It looks as if both the future of Apple Pay; and American-Chinese relations, are becoming far more complicated. One wonders if U.S. nationalists; like President Donald J. Trump (R-New York), will retaliate against Ant Financial’s Alipay digital wallet which is now widely available in the United States.

Faster checkout time at the register. No swiping or customer searching for credit cards. This could speed up checkout times and encourage repeat business; because slow moving lines at the cash register are a major customer complaint.

Some retailers, such as Walmart and dollar store operators, might view Apple Pay as a niche product that only appeals to a small upper-income segment of the population. If you look at Apple Pay’s website, you see a multitude of high-end urban brands such as Whole Foods and Petco but a shortage of working-class retailers. Bloomingdales is present, but Kmart is nowhere to be seen.

Samsung Pay, Apple Pay and Android Pay are getting even more competition. JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), one of the nation’s largest banks, has rolled out its own solution, Chase Pay, that will support Current C.

That means American Express could be a nice bargain stock at some point next year. It also means that Amex is still a really good long-term investment, even if it is no longer America’s favorite credit card.

Cisco Systems is a value investment for a very simple reason. It is an infrastructure company: one of those great businesses that you do not see but is all around you, much like the pipeline and supply chain companies that Warren Buffett owns.

If the numbers are accurate, Silicon Valley is now richer than Wall Street, which has implications for us all. The only institutions in America richer than the tech companies appear to be the big banks and the federal government.

Therefore Lending Club looks like a successful company but not a value investment. Its platform is achieving a lot of growth, but it is not making money the way PayPal is. This indicates that its business model could be flawed or at least seriously limited, so you should stay away from it for now